curuchamion

Snagged from lothithil and sarlania.

1. Take five books off your bookshelf
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph

Book #1: Men, Ships and the Sea by Alan Villiers and the National Geographic Society
Book #2: A Treasury of the Familiar edited by Ralph L. Woods
Book #3: The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien
Book #4: The Sinister Six Combo by Adam-Troy Castro
Book #5: Davy Crockett by Constance Rourke

The stout ketch took the seas bravely, a bone in her teeth, as we headed down the historic sea road between England and France. Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, and the rocks melt wi' the sun, I will luve thee still, my dear, while the sands o' life shall run. They at once gave up any idea of going back. Gravity took over. The sun walked up in the morning and down at night, though the days were bitter cold and the snow lay deep.

(Okay, that made no sense whatsoever... but I kinda like it anyway.)

Eep. I totally forgot that fic_rush was this weekend!

What it is, for those who came in late, is a two-day fic marathon. No requirements - just write anything you like, as much as you can of it, and talk about it with other people who are doing the same thing.

We're very informal - if you'd like to participate, just pop over to fic_rush_48, which is where they make a new chatter post every hour, and comment on the top post to explain who you are and what you're writing. And then, on the hour or whenever you get stuck *g* drop back in and say how you're doing.

C'mon... I know there are ficcers on my flist! Join us! It's fun!

(Also, you get to hear about what other people are writing. And cheer them on. And whenever in the future you finish whatever you worked on during fic_rush, you can send the mod a linky and they will put it up in the Fic Gallery, which means free publicity! *g*)

So I have this sister who... when she decides to do something, she does it. No matter what the obstacles may be. We call her "Rosie the Dozer", as in bulldozer, when she gets that way.

This time - well, you guys will NOT believe what she just gave me for a late (but so totally worth it) birthday present.

( Under the cut... )

So I just learned today (from patina106) that Pernell Roberts died last Sunday. Y'all probably know him better as Adam Cartwright from Bonanza.

I don't think I've even mentioned Bonanza on here before, as it's not a fandom I write or read fic in... but it's one of my favorite TV shows, for all that. I'm happy just to watch it, and don't feel any need to improve or expand upon it. And Adam was - is - my favorite character; ask anyone I know IRL about the black cowboy hat I wear winter and summer, the answer will start with "She likes Adam Cartwright." (I also have a black vest for the same reason, but I'm not quite as inseparable from it...)

Anyway, I was slightly surprised when I discovered I was writing Pernell/Adam a tribute fic. I didn't even think I could write tribute fic!

(I still don't know if I can. Is this any good?)

Title: Last Man Standing
Summary: Adam comes back home.
Notes: Gen. Not sure what to rate, as I guess it's kind of deathfic, though hopefully not the depressing kind...

( Back at the ranch... )

Ganked from stunt_muppet, because it looks incredibly fun.

Name a character and I'll tell you three (or more) facts about them from my own personal pseudocanon.

This time, fandoms are MacGyver, SG-1, Doctor Who (any TV character), MFU, S&S, NCIS, X-Men, Star Wars, and anything else I've mentioned reading/watching. I'll even throw in LOTR. Because I have pseudocanon in some form for everything.

Okay, I have two things here I'm combining into a single post. First is a meme, ganked from clocketpatch:

If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the Internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

I've been meaning to do this one for a long time - since I got my LJ, in fact - but I just never got around to it before. And now I'm sort of glad I didn't, because I've met so many more awesome people here since joining LJ! *hugs you all*

The second thing is a hyper-fangirl announcement: I FOUND A WORKING LINK TO THE SUNNY DAY AFFAIR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which, if you have not heard of it, is the best UNCLE fluff piece ever written. Seriously. It's by Loretta Ross aka Lorlie on FFnet (whose whole File 40 page is well worth checking out), gen, a lovely UNCLE/Sesame Street crossover. (It's also the source of my favorite, and most-quoted, fanfic quote ever: "When he smiled, he smiled with his whole soul, and the light of it was like sunshine. A person could get addicted to a smile like that.")

Many, many thanks to togsos for pointing me to the linky!!!! *happy dance* *handstands* *random happy singing* *goes to read for the second time in fifteen minutes*

Okay, I apparently can has cuddlefic! Sweet!

No, I did not rip off primsong 's "Snowbound"... not intentionally, anyway. (Though I doubt I'll ever write a cuddlefluff that doesn't show your influence, Prim, nor do I want to. *g*) The original source of this bunny was a discussion question on mfu_canteen awhile back, "what would you do if you were snowed up with one of the guys?" This is my honest answer.

Title: Universal Constant
Summary: What would you do if you were snowed up in a cabin with Illya Kuryakin?
Notes: Gen and G-rated, as usual... hey, it's me. ;-) 200+ words.

( Fluffity fluff! And also science. Sort of. )

Okay, there will be no more random auction-catalog posts popping up on your friends pages for the foreseeable future. Not from me, anyway! (I finished up just before noon - I still can't believe we really did it! *hi-fives eponymous_rose*)

Anyway. Now that that's finished (but probably not finished with *g*), I has a meme. I ganked it from primsong and stunt_muppet. I'll be offline for the next couple of days (I'm going to the annual March for Life in Washington DC - sleeping on a tour bus both ways, yay), but after that maybe I'll have recovered enough to do some writing!

Here is the meme:

The first TEN people to comment in this post get to request that I write a drabble vignette (because my ideas do not stay drabble-sized) of any pairing/character with a prompt. In return, they have to post this in their journal, regardless of their ability level. If you absolutely cannot write, I don't see why you couldn't offer icons or drawings or some such.

As y'all should know by now, I can write Doctor Who (Three, mostly, but I'm familiar with Four, Nine and Ten), MacGyver, Stargate SG-1 (pre-Meridian, usually), Sapphire and Steel, and Man from UNCLE. And Ducky. I also offered for the Three Investigators on my help_haiti post... does anyone on my flist even know who those are?

I can't write shippiness, so the definition of "pairing" above is somewhat nebulous - just throw me a character or two and a prompt. (I've been in a kidficcy mood lately, for the record... anyone for de-aged spies? or more Del Floria grandchildren? or just plain kiddy-cuddles?) Crossover requests, of course, are always welcome and encouraged; I might even be persuaded to continue a previous crossover. ;-)

1. primsong - Three, possibly with schoolkids on a field trip
2.lolmac - young!MacGyver meets the Men from UNCLE
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Sorry about that...

COMPLETE!!!!

( I thought I could! )

COMPLETE!!!!!

( Magnets! )

COMPLETE!!!!!

Handy linkies to fandoms A-E, fandoms F-M, and fandoms N-St. Also, because it's late and I'm tired, a random mention that I can spell Aziraphale, Laurelindorenan, and Mitth'raw'nuruodo without looking. ;-)

( No man is free who has to work for a living )

COMPLETE!!!!! Here are handy linkies to fandoms A-E, fandoms N-St, and fandoms Su-Z.

( The universe is permeated with the odor of turpentine. )

Okay, the list got too large for one post, and I'm only on the fourth page! Wow!

So this is currently fandoms N-St. We'll see how long that lasts. Fandoms A-E can be found here, fandoms F-M here, and fandoms Su-Z here.

( Insanity is highly overrated )

Okay, I'll probably regret this, but I'm volunteering to catalogue the third post of fanfic offers over on help_haiti. (Using my happy!Illya icon because I'm going to need that smile! *g*)

Disclaimer: There are oodles of things here I'm not familiar with. If you see any duplicate fandoms, broken links, or other mistakes, please tell me! ;-)

So... here we go.

( Into the madhouse, chrome and gunmetal or otherwise... )

(Disclaimer: My sister in Search and Rescue got this as an e-mail forward from her captain. I haven't the Snopes-fu to be quite sure it's for real, but even if it's not, it'd be a pretty impressive fake! And either way, I just had to show it to my MacGyverly friends here.)

So apparently, this group of fishermen on a "fly-in" trip to the Alaskan interior left some fish, bait, and such in their plane. And a bear came along. This is what it did to the plane:

( Pictures under the cut. )

So the pilot, being a resourceful sort of person, radioed to another pilot, who brought him 2 new tires, 3 cases (yes, cases - that's what the e-mail said) of duct tape, and "a supply" of sheet plastic. And this is what he did with it:

( Another cut for more pictures. )

After which he was reportedly able to fly the plane home!

How it's supposed to work:
A. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
B. Tag seven people to do the same.
C. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it."

Now, I don't think I have seven people on my flist that I know well enough to say "hey, you randomly have to do this meme because lothithil tagged me." So... yeah. I like hearing random things about people, though... hint hint? ;-)

#1: I collect paper dolls. Ethnic and historical-themed, mostly - I have over 100 now, ranging from reproductions of antique paper dolls, to "American Family of the Pilgrim Era", to the entire cast of "The Mikado" complete with background sets. (I, er, may have turned a large cardboard box into a puppet theater apropos of that last one... never quite got everything to work, though.)

#2: I love to come up with cracky fan theories about quantum mechanics, cryptozoology, and other weird things like that. Electromagnetic vortex theory as relating to crop circles and the Bermuda Triangle (sometimes involving hyperspace bypasses, Puck, and/or the great unconscious); the Marie Celeste (world's most famous disaster of shoddy workmanship); the disasters referenced in the Mayan calendar; and a possible correlation between the original locations of the seven Palantiri and the days of the week in the Elvish calendar. (I'm not kidding.)

#3: I have been known to wear a ruffled shirt, a leather jacket, a Doctor Who Scarf and Chucks all at the same time. As I also have a fairly authentic Season-2-MacGyver mullet, and usually wear a black cowboy hat, the overall effect is... interesting.

#4: I still have portions of my first story, which I started (but never finished) at the age of five. It is mainly notable for focusing entirely on character interaction with an utter lack of plot. Sound familiar? ;-)

#5: I suspect the Bermuda Triangle of being a gateway to the Straight Road (how ships get from the Grey Havens to Valinor).

#6: There is a skull named GK after GK Chesterton, wearing wraparound shades and a blue bandanna, on my bookshelf, and a three-foot-tall skeleton named Indiana Bones, wearing the aviator goggles off my sister's Snoopy plushie, hanging on my wall. (Other features of my room include a stuffed sheep named Lamby which I sleep with, a pink baby blanket with my initials on it, and an excess of spelling-bee trophies being used as bookends.)

#7: I have a sister who hates chocolate. She's not allergic - she just doesn't like it.

So... there's a fannish-auction thing going on called help_haiti, wherein one can "sell" fannish work on commission to people who "pay" by donating money to various charities helping with the Haiti earthquake relief effort.

Being extremely broke, I think this is a fabulous way for me to try and help out - so I have volunteered to write crossover shortfic on demand for the cause. My offering comment lists the fandoms and characters I can write; anyone who wants to bid can just reply to that comment. The starting bid is $1/fic, and you can bid on one, two or all three.

(Granted, you guys have probably figured out that if you really, really wanted a certain crossover from me, you'd just have to mention it and I'd probably eventually produce something tangentially related to what you wanted... but hey, it's for charity!)

So I just read this article on Yahoo! News that says they've discovered a sea slug that splices genes from algae into its own DNA and gains the ability to produce chlorophyll! And it also steals the algae's chloroplasts, so it can convert sunlight into energy for itself, just like plants do!

Here's the linky, for as long as that works: Surprising Sea Slug Is Half-Plant, Half-Animal (by LiveScience staff writer Clara Moskowitz). Or, for the linkphobic and those who poke round these archives a couple years hence (hey, I do it), the text is under the cut.

( Right this way... )

Isn't that just the coolest thing EVAR?!? *bounces*

(Yes, I am a geek!)

Okay, stunt_muppet did this meme and I thought it looked rather fun... That meme where you write to fandoms as if they were significant others and see if people can guess what they are. Do I even have ten fandoms? Huh.

If nothing else, it should be pretty impressively cracky and fun to write. Here goes!

( Under the cut, 'cause this is gonna be long... )

Whoa. That was fun. Very metaphorical. And I got to say some things I've never quite known how to say any other way - which is cool.